Tecumseh
Tecumseh was the best known and most admired opponent of white frontier expansion. He
combined military skill and oratory brilliance to fashion one of the biggest pan-Indian
alliances. He was also unique among his contemporaries by discouraging the traditional
slaughter or torture of captives. Tecumseh's inspired leadership was alien to the usual
norms of Native American leadership, however, and many older chiefs, feeling their
authority threatened, refused to join his confederation. When Tecumseh died, his dream of
a unified Native American state perished with him. He nonetheless remains an American
folk hero of equal stature to Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull.
Tecumseh ("Shooting Star") was born into the Crouching Panther Clan of the Shawnee
nation around 1768 near present-day Piqua, Ohio. His father was a Shawnee chief and his
mother a Creek Indian. The frontier was in a perpetual state of unrest, as colonial
Americans were flooding over the Appalachian Mountains and into traditional Native
American hunting grounds. Friction between the two groups resulted in Lord Dunmore's
War of 1774, in which Tecumseh's father was killed. Thereafter, Tecumseh expressed an
undying hatred for whites and after turning 16 years old, joined numerous raiding parties.
The colonists retaliated in kind, and in 1780, militia under George Rogers Clark played
havoc on the Shawnee settlements. The successful conclusion of the American Revolution
only increased the tempo of westward migration, and other wars resulted.
In 1790 and 1791, Tecumseh gained renown as a scout and warrior under Blue Jacket and
distinguished himself in the defeats of Josiah Harmar and Arthur St. Clair. Three years later,
he was present when Blue Jacket was defeated by Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Fallen
Timbers, but Tecumseh refused to sign the Treaty of Greenville (1795). With a small group
of followers, Tecumseh left Ohio for the relative safety of the Indiana Territory, where they
hoped to be far removed from further dealings with whites.
After a decade of relative peace, Tecumseh's calm was shattered by a new series of land
acquisitions. In 1804, the territorial governor of Indiana, William Henry Harrison, managed
to convince several older chiefs to cede to the United States several million acres through
treaties. Enraged by the prospect of losing additional hunting ground, Tecumseh
established himself as a forceful opponent of further land sales. He went from tribe to tribe,
arguing that since the land in question belonged to all Native Americans, none of it could be
sold without the consent of all. His argument was backed by the teachings of his brother,
Tenskwatawa (The Prophet), who invoked Native American religion to counteract the
destructive effects of white culture. The unique combination of inter-tribal diplomacy and
mystic revivalism promoted a surprising degree of unity in the Northwestern tribes, and
they began resisting white overtures.
Harrison parleyed unsuccessfully with Tecumseh in 1809 but was impressed by
Tecumseh's intelligence, bearing, and resolve. He described the chief to Secretary of War
William Eustis as "one of those uncommon geniuses, which spring up occasionally to
produce revolutions and overturn the established order of things." Tecumseh, wishing to
expand his idea of confederation, next traveled as far west as Iowa and as far south as
Florida to recruit new members. In Mississippi, the noted Choctaw chief Pushmahata
rebuffed his stance with equal eloquence, but the Creek nation of Alabama, then in the
throes of its own religious revival, listened closely and began preparing for war against the
whites.
During Tecumseh's absence from his own tribe, however, Harrison resolved to deal the
Native Americans a blow from which they might not recover. Since 1809, Tenskwatawa had
established and maintained a village at Tippecanoe Creek on lands previously sold to
whites. Intent on removing this symbol of Native American resistance, Harrison took a
small army up the Wabash River and forced the Native Americans to move in November
1811. Tenskwatawa and his men responded by attacking Harrison's camp on the night of
November 7 and were only defeated after a hard struggle. Such aggressiveness from
Tenskwatawa defied Tecumseh's order not to provoke a fight before the coalition was
solvent, and Tecumseh's work to unite the tribes began to unravel.
Furthermore, the setback forced Tecumseh into a greater reliance on the British in Canada
for arms and supplies. Clearly, the British did not want to be implicated in a war between
the United States and Native Americans, so they granted the tribesmen only token aid. To
many in Congress, however, particularly the "War Hawk" faction, Tecumseh's forays to
Canada were further proof of British intentions to incite frontier violence, which became a
major cause behind the ensuing War of 1812.
When the United States declared war against Britain in June 1812, Tecumseh openly
espoused his support for the British. He did so against the advice of his nephew, James
Logan, who declared his intention to fight for the Americans and urged Tecumseh to
remain neutral, but Tecumseh was adamant in his stand against the United States. In
August, Tecumseh joined forces with British general Isaac Brock against the U.S. Army
under Gen. William Hull at Detroit. On August 5, Tecumseh's warriors routed a militia
supply column at Brownstown, inflicting more than 200 casualties on the enemy with little
loss on his own side. Four days later, Tecumseh was himself defeated at Maguaga by Col.
James Miller, but he remained in the vicinity of Detroit to harass the defenders. Brock's
threat of a Native American massacre convinced Hull to surrender Detroit on August 16.
Tecumseh's warriors then fought bravely in a number of savage encounters throughout the
Old Northwest. In January 1813, they helped British general Henry Procter destroy the
army of Gen. James Winchester at Frenchtown, Michigan Territory, although Tecumseh was
not present, and many of the wounded American prisoners were massacred. This slaughter
of wounded prisoners led to greater resolve on the part of Americans, especially
Kentuckians, for revenge. In May 1813, Tecumseh directed Native American movements
during Procter's siege of Fort Meigs, Ohio and was instrumental in repulsing a determined
sortie orchestrated by his old nemesis, Harrison. Tecumseh personally intervened to
prevent another massacre of prisoners and castigated Procter for failing to do so earlier.
The siege failed, as did a second attempt in July, and the restless Native American warriors
began deserting the British Army.
To prevent further dissent, Tecumseh prevailed upon Procter to attack Fort Stephenson in
August 1813 for a victory that would inspire his warriors. When British troops were
disastrously repulsed by Maj. George Croghan, Procter decided to abandon Ohio altogether.
Tecumseh had little recourse but to follow him back to Fort Malden, Ontario and await
developments.
On September 10, 1813, the British strategic position in Canada worsened by the victory of
Cmdr. Oliver Hazard Perry during the Lake Erie Campaign. With the waterways in
American hands, Perry's fleet next transported Harrison's army to Fort Malden, and
Procter and Tecumseh commenced retreating eastward. The pursuit, mounted by vengeful
Kentuckians, gradually wore Native American morale down, and Tecumseh goaded Procter
into making a final stand along the Thames River on October 5, 1813. Once the British
posted themselves out in the open, Tecumseh deployed his warriors in a swamp on their
flank and awaited the American attack. Harrison, in a surprising move, unloosed Col.
Richard M. Johnson's cavalry, which quickly overran Procter's men, prompting their
surrender.
The Native Americans, by contrast, resisted stoutly and forced the cavalry to dismount and
engage them on foot. In the course of the fighting, Johnson was wounded but Tecumseh
was killed, an act which caused a general Native American retreat. The Americans looked
for Tecumseh's body, but it had been spirited away and buried by several of his followers.
Tecumseh's passing marked the end of organized Native American resistance to white
encroachment east of the Mississippi River, a fight that would not be taken up again until
the Black Hawk War in 1832. Although his quest for Native American unity failed,
Tecumseh was admired by friends and enemies alike for his vision, eloquence, and strength
of character.